Welcome to the Fishing Report from Townsend, Tennessee. It is dark this morning with heavy cloud cover and the temperature is 32 degrees. I saw quite a few cars on my way to work, maybe 10 or 12. The air is clear and the mountains are visible in vivid detail. Little River’s level is dropping by the day but it is still flowing way above normal for this date. The water temperature is 42 degrees in town.

Fishing would be fairly good today if you don’t mind stripping streamers and catching an occasional large trout. But, traveling in Great Smoky Mountains National Park would probably not be a good idea, especially later today.

We are under a “winter storm warning” right now. Rain and sleet are expected later this afternoon and snow tonight with accumulation of 4 to 8 inches possible. We are on the edge of this storm. If you check Weather Service forecasts to our south the prediction is not as bad. So, a slight change upward in the low expected temperature could produce a completely different outcome. If it is two degrees warmer, this could all turn out to be rain. Or, it could be worse. We are all anxiously waiting to see what happens.

Our free fly tying demonstrations tomorrow probably won’t happen. I don’t even know if we will be open. We’ll have to wait and see.

It’s almost February, which means it’s almost March. I’m looking forward to March. If late February is warm and the fish are biting I’m looking forward to February. What I’m anxiously awaiting is 50 degree water. At that temperature things start happening, important things to me. The bugs start hatching. The trout start rising. The smallmouth bass move into the riffles, and 50 degree water means we are looking forward to 60 degree water when all heck breaks loose in our rivers. At that point we’ll be on the lakes again too.

Then the wild turkeys start gobbling. It’s time for the Spring gobbler hunt. Spring is my favorite time of year and after we get through this weekend we will all be more than ready for the season to come.

Please be careful this weekend if you are in the path of this storm. Have a great day and thank you for being here with us.